Monday, March 17, 2008

The Truman Show - Seahaven

What type of place is Seahaven?
Seahaven is a constructed reality created by the executives of The Truman Show which serves to house the main character, Truman, as well as the actors around him in an attempt to capture as many viewers as possible and through this, market as many products as possible. Hence, Seahaven is portrayed as the perfect and utopian American seaside town, perhaps of the 1950s to 1960s, but in reality, it is merely a movie/film set of unbelievably enormous proportions, with 5000 cameras, simulated, human controlled weather and geography, as well as an entire town of actors and actresses all paid and supported by Christoff and his corporation.

In what ways does it fit in with ‘The American Dream’?
Although Seahaven may be portrayed to its audiences as a reality in itself, the fact is that it is still a simulated reality and the one and only one fragment of it which is truly genuine would probably be Truman himself. However, the audience does not see this fact, and hence Christoff and the executives of the Truman Show masterfully use this to their advantage by creating the perfect, vintage, though highly stereotypical vision of an American suburbia, the classic American Dream, and sell it to their audiences as a form of reality.

How all this fits in into the American Dream is in the lifestyles of the “inhabitants” of Seahaven. The “inhabitants”, or rather, the actors and actresses, all appear to be leading the perfect lives, with their perfect little children and perfect little homes in which they are constantly happy and contented with their lives and themselves, where they work hard but never have to worry about their next paycheck or where their next meal is coming from, and where they basically live a laidback lifestyle which the viewers can only dream of.


Think of a specific scene in which this is illustrated well and comment on the effect.
A specific scene which comes to mind in which this portrayal of the American Dream is illustrated well is in the first few minutes of The Truman Show where Truman walks out of his house to the perfect, master-planned community where the freshly painted houses are arranged side by side neatly with clean sidewalks and picture perfect neighbours, all of which/whom evoke a very dreamy quality about them, the kind of feeling that would make the people at home sigh and wish they were there, only they don’t know they can’t, even though it isn’t really there. This feeling is the exact kind of feeling that Christoff and his fellow executives wished to evoke within the audience and this is especially clear when he states that Seahaven is the way the world should be. The desired effect produced by this scene alone is also the same desired effect that is intentionally produced throughout most of the Truman Show whether for the benefit of the elderly couple watching at home, the waitresses watching from the diner, or even the security guards doing their daily shifts.

What messages do you think the makers of the reality TV programme are trying to communicate? Why?
The makers of The Truman Show are basically trying to communicate subliminal messages of varying degrees of intensity to their audiences.

Firstly, the makers of the Truman Show wish to market their idea of “the perfect life” to their audience. By selling The Truman Show as a “reality TV programme”, despite the fact that the only reality was Truman himself, the makers are subtly deceiving their audience and making them believe that what is shown before them is reality, and hence the ‘reality’ that they see before them is ‘the perfect life’ because everyone in the ‘reality’, including Truman appears to be happy, contented, and living the American Dream.

Secondly, through marketing their idea of “the perfect life” to their audiences, they also blatantly market their products to the audience which they think, or rather, which they want the people to think constitute “the perfect life”. Hence these people who are constantly but unknowingly bombarded by such media messages as they watch the show are heavily influenced to purchase these products, due to effective product placement on the part of the makers, in their own personal pursuit of the American Dream, of a life which they can only dream of.

Thirdly, by confining Truman to Seahaven and by quelling his urges for exploration beyond his comfort zone, the makers of The Truman Show might also be trying to communicate the idea of “happiness without asking questions” to the people watching at home, effectively consuming the freedom of not just Truman, but also the millions of viewers who are too emotionally attached to Truman to let go of the television programme as well as everything that it represents.

How does reality TV / the media in general influence us in a similar way?

Based on the aforementioned three stages in which the makers of The Truman Show attempt to influence the viewers at home, reality TV as well as the media in our own society uses the same methods and more in an attempt to influence us and bend us to their will. For example, through well thought out product placement in popular television programmes as well as MTV music videos, major corporations are effectively persuading teens and youths to purchase these products. For example, if the latest teen idol on the most popular soap opera or the most popular rap artist on his latest music video happen to showcase a particular gadget, then the general public will also want to emulate what they see on television because they are convinced that what they see on television is “right”.


However, reality TV and the media in general have impacts of differing intensities. Due to the fact that reality TV, is named as such, whether it truly depicts reality or not, people find it all the more appealing, authentic and achievable, if only because they find the lifestyles and characters portrayed there easier to emulate.

Done By: Chelsia, Yadi, Yande, Joel , Shiyang 09s06J! (:

No comments: